


While You Were Gone

by mggislife2789



Category: Spencer Reid - Fandom
Genre: Bullying, Elementary School, F/M, High School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 03:12:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8040259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: Spencer and the Reader gravitate toward each other in elementary, as the reader feels the need to protect Spencer from bullies. If the reader is forced to leave, what will Spencer do without her?Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	While You Were Gone

Mountain View Elementary School was not a good place. At least it wasn’t if you were Spencer Reid.

Y/N had started at the school in kindergarten, the same year as Spencer. She was semi-quiet and he was shy, so they gravitated toward each other. She would never forget the first time she met him. It was the first day of second grade at 8:30 in the morning and the teacher hadn’t unlocked the classroom yet, so most of their classmates would wait outside. Y/N’s parents were running a little late, so she walked into school later than usual, which left Spencer standing outside the classroom, vulnerable to other students, all by himself.  
She ran up the stairs, not wanting to be late (Mr. Acosta hated it, quoting one of her favorite authors, Oscar Wilde). “Punctuality is the thief of time,” she could still here him saying. In first and second grade, most of the kids had no idea what the word punctual even meant, but Y/N and Spencer were not like the other kids. They would undoubtedly skip grades and go on to do great things.

When Y/N rounded the corner of the hallway, mere feet away from the classroom, she heard Brad, a third-grader, and two of his friends (she thought their names were Dillon and Nick, but she couldn’t remember) taunting someone.

“Why are you so weird?” Brad said, pushing the not-yet-known student back into the wall.

It was then that she saw it was Spencer. His black wire-rimmed glasses had fallen half off of his face and tangled in the beige sweater vest and white shirt he was wearing, causing him to drop the books and homework he had been carrying in his arms.

Brad continued even louder, “Does your mom dress you? You’re such a dork. No one wants you here!” He put his hands on Spencer’s shoulders, looking like he was about to push him into the wall even harder when Y/N ran toward them.

“Stop!” she screamed, putting herself in between Spencer and Brad, “What are you doing?”

“Giving this little geek what he deserves,” Brad quipped matter-of-factly.

She couldn’t fathom how children or adults could do something like this to someone else, so she said exactly what came to her mind. “He’s twice the boy you’ll ever be, at least he doesn’t feel the need to pick on someone else to make himself feel better. You’re disgusting.”

The natural redness of Brad’s cheeks deepened. Inwardly she flinched, feeling like he might be about to hit her, but she kept her face as straight as she possibly could. “What did you say to me, you little bitch?”

“Mr. O’Neill!” a voice bellowed from nearby. The sheer strength of the voice made the mass of students turn their heads, where Mr. Acosta was standing with a look of steel upon his face. “You get a weeks worth of detention for that kind of language! See me during recess.”

With that, Brad slumped away, steaming and sullen, leaving Y/N to help Spencer pick up his things and make their way into the classroom.

“Thanks, Y/N,” Spencer whispered, looking at his slightly bent frames.

\---------------------------------

The bullying Spencer endured only intensified as the months flew by; sometimes Y/N was there to stop it, sometimes she wasn’t, and sometimes her being there only led to her getting bullied instead. The only difference was her parents always told her to tell them if anything happened, so they frequently lodged complaints with the school on behalf of their daughter and her friend. Spencer’s father was always at work (they weren’t close anyway) and his mom was sick, so she wasn’t able to take care of him as well she should have. Plus, Y/N would rather get hit or bullied herself; she was able to brush it off much more easily.

That’s why it was heartbreaking for her to have to tell Spencer what she needed to tell him. One day after school, when her parents had picked them both up so they could watch movies, she had to tell him about her dad’s job. It would be taking her away. She wouldn’t be able to help him anymore.

His face looked ghost white as he told her. The realization that he would be on his own never really crossed his mind - and he thought he might actually end up dying without someone there to protect him. 

“Spence, what they say or think about you means nothing. You’re smart, sweet, kind-hearted, cute...” she trailed off, never having told him that before. “You need to tell people, anyone, if the same things keep happening and I’m not there. Otherwise, it’ll only get worse.”

Spencer looked down at the hem of his shirt, attempting to hide the tear that was falling from his eye, but Y/N saw it. “I don’t know if it can get any worse,” he cracked. He knew the bullying could get worse and so did she, but the tone in his voice gave away his true thoughts. He couldn’t imagine what his life would be like without his only friend.

On her last day at Mountain View, she leaned into Spencer, giving him a kiss on the cheek, hoping it would be enough to let him know that she would always be thinking of him.

\--------------------------

As they had previously thought, both Spencer and Y/N went on to skip grades, entering high school at the age of 12: their situations the same, but hundreds of miles apart.

Seven years passed before Y/N’s father was transferred back to his former position for work, forcing her to leave in the middle of high school, at the age of 14. She hadn’t been able to keep in touch with Spencer. Without him having a cellphone, which his mother hadn’t wanted him to have, it was nearly impossible to keep in touch.

So it came as quite a surprise when she walked into Las Vegas High School, a month into her junior year, to a sight that broke her heart in two. Her childhood crush, her confidant, Spencer Reid, was still living in the city - and it seemed like nothing and everything had changed. The bullying he suffered had built to an almost unbearable degree.

She walked onto the school grounds, making her way from her first to second class, when she saw what ended up being Spencer (she could tell because of his hair) tied to a flagpole with nothing but his underwear and a blindfold on. Droves of students were nearby, pointing and laughing, while this defenseless young man was crying and shaking uncontrollably - and there was no teacher on the grounds to notice.

Her former protectiveness, which had never really left her, returned in full force as she ran towards the flagpole. “What the hell is wrong with all of you?” she said, pushing her way through the girls and boys whose faces she would never forget.

She turned her back on Spencer and faced the crowd. “You think this is funny?! You are all deplorable sons of bitches! How dare you pick on someone vulnerable! How would you like it if I did it to you?” she pointed at a boy who was convulsing in laughter, kicking him in the shin. “Or you?” she continued, walking across the crowd to another student she didn’t know. “Get the hell out of here! And I will remember all of your faces, so if I see you anywhere near him again, I’ll make you regret it!”

With that, she turned around, pulling loose the knots that held him to the cold, metal pole.

“Y/N?” he croaked, not able to keep his tears at bay. “Is that you?”

She pulled the blindfold off his eyes, caressing the side of his face and wiping away a tear as she pulled off her jacket, allowing him to cover himself while she looked for his clothes.

“How are you back here?” he asked, his voice still skeptical that she was real - that his protector and crush was really standing in front of him.

“It’s a long story, but my dad said we won’t be moving anymore, for my sake. So you never have to be without me ever again, okay?” she said, pressing her forehead against his.

Although most of the students had disbanded, there were still a select few that stuck around - maybe they wanted to see the rest of the “show.” She would give them something to see: something she had wanted to do for years and something that would stick in their minds. Something that would show them exactly who she was. She was a girl who cared very deeply about the susceptible boy from her childhood - and she would never let anyone hurt him again.

Due to the years between them, he had grown many inches, forcing Y/N to rise up on tiptoes to press her lips to his. “I’m here, Spence. And I’m not leaving again. I promise.”


End file.
